Interview: Scott Draeker and Sam Latinga, Loki Entertainment

A talk with the company who brings you the computer game Civilization: Call To Power.

The sound of marching soldiers thunders
through the cobbled streets as citizens bask in the glory of their
triumphant leaders. No, this isn't a post-election day Republican
fantasy, it is just one of many scenes from the animated movies
which introduce you to the first award-winning, top-selling
computer game to be ported and run natively under
Linux—Civilization: Call To Power.

Civilization: Call To Power is the latest in a series of
games based on the original Civilization game. Civilization I hit
the streets in 1991 and was an instant classic. In 1996 the sequel,
Civilization II, won PC Gamer's Game of the
Year award and was named the “Strategy Game of All Time”.
Together, Civilization I and II have sold over 2,500,000 copies, in
an industry where a “hit” has to sell only 100,000 copies. Since
its release in April, and up to the time of this writing,
Civilization: Call To Power for Windows has been the number one
selling PC game.

This latest incarnation of the popular game was originally
developed by Activision for MS Windows-based systems. The native
X11 port to Linux was performed by Loki Entertainment Software, a
relatively new company, started in 1998, devoted to porting the
most popular PC games to Linux. As Scott Draeker (pictured at left
below), President and Founder of Loki, says,

One way to put this success in perspective is to
compare the PC game industry with the movie industry—both gross
about $5 billion a year. Getting the rights to Civilization: Call
To Power is like getting the rights to the next Star Wars
sequel.

I talked with Scott and Sam Latinga (pictured at right
below), lead programmer for Loki, as they prepared the Linux
release of Civilization: Call To Power for distribution.

Michael: Although I'm a
software developer by trade, I've never really been much of a game
player, so this is somewhat new to me. Why don't you both give us
some background information. How did you get into the world of
gaming?

Scott: Well, I am not
technical, but I am a game player. I came up through stints at
Apple and LSI Logic and a few other places. After that, I went over
to the “dark side”—law school. While working as a software
licensing attorney at an accounting firm, I got involved with some
game companies and was introduced to Linux. Dan Kegel at Activision
introduced me to Sam.

Sam: My background is mostly
in systems administration, but I've been interested in game system
portability for a long time. I've worked on things like the
Maelstrom port. When Scott came to me with the idea of porting
games, I was a bit skeptical. When it became apparent to me that
the idea was for real, my interest
grew.

Michael: What made you
decide that now was the time to start porting games to
Linux?

Scott: I first thought about
games on Linux in 1998—much has happened since then. We were lucky
and in the right place at the right time. When looking at
Civilization, we were fairly sure we were going to lose money on it
initially. Then, as I became more familiar with Linux, I heard
about the GNOME and KDE projects. Knowing those sorts of familiar
interfaces would be available along with the usual benefits of
running on Linux convinced me a consumer market would develop for
Linux and Linux products. I knew that if Red Hat could get a
distribution on the shelf, I could certainly get a game
there.

Michael: The game was
originally developed by Activision. Did you contact them about
doing the port, or had they been looking for someone to do it? How
much cajoling was involved in getting them to sign on?

Scott: I talked to many game
companies, and I'm still doing so. We were actually focusing on
another game when Dan Kegel suggested we look at Civilization. We
did, looking at both demos and code. The more we looked at it and
worked with Activision, the more we drifted away from the other
game. I think Activision had the better title, and they certainly
have their act together. Phillip Erwin, in the licensing department
at Activision, was instrumental in getting the project completed.
MicroProse, a Hasbro company and developer of the original
Civilization, had to sign off on this port along with Activision.
Phillip woke the President of Hasbro at midnight on December 31 in
order to get the licensing signed. He's definitely gone to bat for
us.

Michael: Are you tied to
Activision for future games, or are you free to talk with any other
game producers?

Scott: We are already
working on three additional titles, none of which is from
Activision. Of course, I would love to do more Activision titles
and we are pursuing that too.

Michael: Is this the same
game as the PC version? Did the game play have to change at all in
order for the Linux port to function?

Sam: Yes, it is the same
game. The game play didn't change at all. However, we did add a few
minor tweaks to the user interface which we feel make it a “real”
Linux game. This is a true Linux application; that is, it's not a
Windows game running under an emulator—it's native to Linux. The
installation is native to Linux. (See “Game Review”.)

Michael: Were there any
engineering limitations—libraries, for example, that you had to
wait for before you could start the work?

Scott: Sam evaluated the
Loki code, making sure their proprietary libraries could be either
ported or emulated on Linux. The library we used is SDL, the Simple
DirectMedia Layer. Sam authored SDL with an eye toward creating a
cross-platform media layer for games. All the graphics and sound in
the game have been ported to SDL, replacing the equivalent DirectX
calls from the Windows version.

Sam: Basically, we had all
the tools we needed from the start, with a few exceptions. None of
the available off-the-shelf installers and video playback tools
were adequate for our needs.

We evaluated the available open-source video playback tools,
brought them in, updated them and put them into the game with our
modifications. We will release the playback tool back to the Open
Source community.

Michael: The community will
appreciate that, I'm sure. How long did it take for this first
port? Will it take as long for future ports, or did you spend some
time during the original port building infrastructure for the
porting efforts?

Scott: We started the port
in December 1998, and coding began in January 1999. It didn't take
that long—roughly four months. Part of the reason the port went so
fast was the great support we received from Activision. They
responded quickly to our questions and requests. With future games
it may not take as long, but each game is unique. It depends on how
tightly coupled the game is to the Windows API.

Sam: Much of the user
interface was provided in the game, so that part of porting wasn't
difficult. However, in places where there was a tight tie-in to the
Windows API, the port was a real pain.

Michael: I can imagine. When
I got ready to install the pre-release version you sent me, I
noticed that the game requires 400MB of disk space. Is it common to
have such large installation requirements for games? Additionally,
43MB is a large footprint for a runtime binary from a Linux
perspective. Will these sizes (installation and runtime) go down
eventually?

Scott: Games are always
hardware-intensive. The game binary is only 7.8MB. The rest is just
as Activision designed it. Large installations (disk requirements)
are common for games under Windows.

The game is designed to run from a CD, but due to space
limitations on the CD, it can't currently be run that way. The
files on the CD are compressed and would have to be uncompressed on
the CD to run from there. We have no release plans for a CD-based
Civilization, but we are aware of the need for such features and
will be looking into that possibility for future games.

Michael: Any plans for
hardware-accelerated graphic support? Have you talked to any of the
X server vendors (XFree, Metro or Xi Graphics) about that?

Scott: Yes. We're talking to
people on both sides—hardware and software—about hardware
acceleration. We're working on a 3-D game right now that will be
hardware-accelerated.

Civilization is truly a breakout product. It is a triple-A
product released hot on the heels of the Windows version going into
stores. That includes SuSE in Europe and Macmillan Publishing in
North America. We intend to place it in all the big stores—all the
places that sell software. Wherever you see Red Hat, you'll see our
game. That's not true for the average Linux game at this time. By
doing this, we've shown there is a market for this game, and games
in general, on Linux. Many announcements are being made by 3Dfx,
Creative and other people. They are coming on board because they
realize games draw hardware sales.

Michael: So there will be
many changes in the gaming market down the road. With all those
games coming, how hard is it to do these ports? What are the
biggest areas of work in porting a game from Windows to Linux? Is
it on the technical side or in the business details (including
things like documentation)?

Sam: From the programmer's
perspective, it's probably 50-50.

Scott: The programmers had a
few things they were doing for the very first time: compiler
debugging and a few infrastructure issues. Having done that work,
we can leverage it in the future. On the business side, the first
time is much harder. This is the first shrink-wrapped game for
Linux that can be found in Best Buy, Fry's and CompUSA. A fair bit
of work was needed just to contact game companies with both a great
product in good shape for porting and an interest in exploring this
market! In addition, we are working on three other products right
now and that will just keep increasing. Much of our past work will
carry over—it was necessary only because it was the first
time.

Sam: Although each game will
be unique, the business side stays more stable. It does not change
much after the first game.

Scott: With Linux becoming
more commercial, you have to justify your products to the free
software community and to the business world. In the business
world, you pay to put your product on the shelves, do co-marketing,
and pay for ads, bundling and so forth. That's a great deal of work
and an important part of legitimizing the Linux platform for other
games.

Michael: Scott, do you think
there is room in the Linux market for more than one game-porting
company at this time?

Scott: I get the occasional
e-mail from someone else who wants to port games to Linux. We know
we're not going to be the only ones doing this. Several other
games, not necessarily ports, are available already, for example,
Hopkins FBI and Quake 3. We've picked our niche for now by doing
top-20 games. Since so many games come out each year, it's
self-evident that we cannot port everything or even everything
considered good.

We came in fairly early to prove to the computer industry,
the game market and the Linux market we could do this. We wanted to
position ourselves as the people who are doing the triple-A
products. It's not quick and dirty. It's not contract programming.
We're taking the source, re-implementing it for Linux and
publishing it for the Linux community.

We're a godsend for game companies. At a time when they're
laying people off, we offer another market for games already making
money for them.

Michael:
Well, the game market for Linux is fairly large. But how do you
find out where that market is and what they want? You mentioned in
an interview with LinuxToday that you read
Slashdot and LinuxToday.
Do you feel these on-line Linux news sources are representative of
the whole market for Linux games, or is there a larger market
beyond the generally technical readers of sites like these?

Scott: There is a market
right now just with current Linux users. As it grows, it will bring
in more and more people, more and more diversity. Right now you can
go to Slashdot and hit a good percentage of
Linux users. In two or three years, that might not be the case—not
because Slashdot has gotten smaller, but
because the market is going to keep broadening. Right now, we focus
on the technically savvy Linux market—there is a tar file on the
CD, for example. On the other hand, we're aware that
non-traditional users will be coming over. The GUI installer is
there, specifically for the newbies.

Sam: I did the installer and
am rather proud of it, since I wrote it specifically for the
newbies.

Michael: I must admit it was
quite easy to use. What about getting the games in the hands of
users? I noticed GameCellar.com
(http://www.gamecellar.com/)
has a Linux area, and CTP is the only product there currently. The
typical Linux user wouldn't look for a product here, however. Does
this mean you see a different market than typical Linux users? Do
you plan on selling through traditional channels (Linux Mall,
LinuxBerg.com, through Red Hat or SuSE, etc.)?

Scott: A good deal of
interest in Linux products is showing up in many places it hasn't
been in the past. As an experiment, Costco made Red Hat available
in their stores, and it outsold Windows 98. I understand you can
even buy Linux products at some Wal-Marts. These aren't traditional
UNIX/Linux outlets. We're excited about where our games might show
up. Obviously, it will be at the superstores and the game stores
like Software Etc., but it will be in bookstores, too. A great
synergy exists with bookstores, since they already sell Linux
products. Selling our game will be an incredible add-on.

Michael: What's next? Do you
have any concrete plans for future games?

Scott: No announced titles,
but we have 3-D and strategy games in the works, and we're very
close to doing an RPG (role playing game). We're going to hit as
many genres as we can, with all the best titles. You won't see
twenty RPGs, but you will see the best ones.

Michael:Seems like a good
bit of work for a start-up. Do you have enough staff to work these
projects in parallel?

Scott: We have enough to
work two in parallel now, and we want to ramp up to three or four
by the end of the year. We plan on having four to eight titles by
the end of the year and doubling that next year.

Michael: Well, that's great.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, Scott and Sam.

After we'd finished our telephone interview, Scott, Sam and I
started talking candidly about playing the game. I mentioned to
them how engrossed I'd become in the game during the week after I'd
received the pre-release copy sent to me to prepare for this
interview. I spent several nights glued to the computer until 3AM.
Perhaps it's a good thing I live alone—where does one find a
spouse who actually understands and accepts such behaviour? Sam
chuckled at this. “We have an in-house joke at Loki that with
games on Linux, we're going to bring kernel development to a
standstill.”

We all laughed a bit more about this possibility. I don't
actually think kernel development will slow because of such
high-powered games as Civilization: Call To Power. Still, kernel
developers may find they are getting fewer hours of sleep each
night. I wonder—does this mean the next thing to come to Linux
will be an open-source caffeine supplement?

Michael J. Hammel
(mjhammel@graphics-muse.org) is a graphic artist wanna-be, a writer
and a software developer. He wanders the planet aimlessly in search
of adventure, quiet beaches and an escape from the computers that
dominate his life. Michael writes the monthly “Graphics Muse”
column in Linux Gazette, maintains the Graphics Muse web
site and the Linux Graphics Mini-HOWTO. His book, The
Artists' Guide to the GIMP, is published by SSC,
Inc.

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